Dell plant in North Carolina begins production

DELL EMPLOYEE BARRIE KUTLIK works in the computer assembly area at the new Dell plant which opened last week in Winston-Salem, N.C. By GERRY BROOME, The Associated Press

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- As the computers started rolling off the assembly line Wednesday at his company's newest and largest plant, Dell Inc. chairman Michael Dell beamed and gave one to Gov. Mike Easley -- along with a promise.

"This was made in North Carolina, so you've got some really good stuff here," Dell said. "I think you'll be seeing several million more just like this real soon."

And that's just what Easley and local officials -- who lured Dell to the state with $318 million in grants and tax breaks -- wanted to hear. Because if the computers keep coming off the line, that means hundreds of North Carolinians have jobs inside the plant putting them together.

"I'll tell you Michael Dell, you picked up the morale in this region by 110 percent," Easley said.

At the ceremony to celebrate the plant's opening Wednesday, Easley said the plant soon will produce a computer every five seconds and that within a few months, it will produce a computer every 2.5 seconds. Within 18 months, Dell predicted the plant will be able to pump out $10 billion in computers a year.

Easley told Dell the plant was vital to efforts to resurrect the regional economy, which has been hit hard in recent years by layoffs in traditional manufacturing industries. Dell spent more than $100 million to open the facility, which initially will employ about 350 workers, then 700 workers by the end of the year and about 1,500 within five.

Earning about $28,000 per year, the Dell employees must go through weeks of classroom and on-the-job training. They also are cross-trained on most production processes at the plant and are expected to help train new employees.

The plant also is expected to create as many as 6,500 spinoff jobs as suppliers set up shop nearby. "My understanding is that 1.5 to two jobs are created by every job at Dell," Dell said.

The Round Rock, Texas-based company chose the rural site in the middle of tobacco farms after the state, city and Forsyth County won a bidding war by offering the computer maker the richest incentives package in state history. Easley joked about the amount Wednesday, saying he's "on the hot seat" because the legality of the incentives are being challenged in court.

The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law, a group led by retired state Supreme Court Judge Robert Orr, contends in a lawsuit that state and local governments violated the state's constitution by favoring Dell with taxpayer money not available to other companies.

Dell said other states recruited the company, which settled on North Carolina "for the people, the infrastructure and, of course, the incentives played a role."

The 750,000-square-foot plant joins Dell's U.S. manufacturing operations in Austin, Texas, and Lebanon, Tenn. Dell also has manufacturing facilities in Ireland, Malaysia, China and Brazil.

With $18 billion, Dell is the nation's fourth-richest person. When asked what motivated him, Dell said, "I'm having fun."

"When I think of the potential of this company in five to 10 years it really excites me," he said.